The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (also referred to as The Fletcher School) is the oldest school in the United States dedicated solely to graduate studies in international affairs.

Fletcher is regarded as one of the world's foremost graduate schools of international relations.[2] The school’s alumni include hundreds of sitting ambassadors; award-winning journalists and authors; leaders of international peacekeeping, humanitarian and security initiatives; heads of global nonprofit organizations; and executive leadership of some of the world’s largest for-profit companies.

The school’s dean is Admiral James Stavridis, U.S. Navy (retired), former Supreme Allied Commander at NATO and former head of the U.S. European Command. Admiral Stavridis received a MALD degree and a PhD from The Fletcher School in 1983 and 1984, respectively. He became the 12th dean of the school on July 1, 2013.[3]

On its campus in Medford, Massachusetts, The Fletcher School offers multi-disciplinary instruction in international affairs through four masters programs and a Ph.D. program. Regardless of the degree program in which they are enrolled, students have the opportunity to select from among more than 170 courses across three divisions: International Law and Organization (ILO); Diplomacy, History and Politics (DHP); and Economics and International Business (EIB).[4]

The school also offers an internet-mediated degree for mid-career professionals through its Global Master of Arts Program (GMAP). The year-long program combines three 2-week residencies with rigorous academic instruction covering topics such as negotiation, trade, economics and politics from a global perspective.[5]

The Fletcher School employs more than 30 full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty as well as a variety of adjunct and visiting professors, and benefits from faculty at partner schools within Tufts, including the Friedman School of Nutrition. The full-time Fletcher faculty includes economists, international law theorists, historians, and political scientists who hold the academic ranks of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, and lecturer. All faculty members hold terminal degrees in their respective fields (Ph.Ds in the case of historians, political scientists, and economists; and JDs and LLMs in the case of lawyers). In 2013, the faculty to student ratio in Medford is 1:8.6.[6]

The Fletcher School is home to many specialty programs, institutes, and research centers that contribute scholarly research and publications, organize conferences, and invite speakers to campus. The school hosts more than 200 speakers each year, ranging from heads of state to young emerging leaders at the intersection of digital communications technologies and international affairs. Their foci range the spectrum from human rights and conflict resolution, to international business, to security studies, to development, to environmental policy, to media and communications, to technology.

Fletcher students come from nearly 50 different countries, and more than forty percent of the student body is from outside of the U.S. Immersed in scholarship across 20 different fields of study, their backgrounds, interests and disciplines are as varied as their geographies, contributing to Fletcher’s vibrant classroom and campus community.

In the fall of 2008, the school introduced a two-year Master of International Business (MIB) program which combines the flexibility of the international affairs curriculum with a core of business course. "Topics covered include international geopolitics, trade legislation, business law, negotiation and the role of international NGOs... The MIB differs from a traditional MBA in that, while it provides students with the concrete skills of an MBA, MIB participants also study the full spectrum of issues that arise when conducting business in an international environment.[8]

Also, in 2008, the school added a one-year (LL.M.) in International Law degree which is a post-graduate, full-time academic degree for legal professionals who wish to obtain specialized education in a particular area of international law.

In 2000, the school launched the Global Master of Arts Program (GMAP), a year-long combined residency and Internet-mediated master's degree program. "Aimed at mid- to upper-level professionals with at least eight years' professional experience, the international, interdisciplinary program covers topics such as negotiation, trade, economics and politics from a global perspective. While some students already have MBAs or PhDs, others have opted for the Fletcher qualification instead of an MBA. The program combines three two-week residencies—two on the Fletcher campus and the third at an inter-national site—with the rest of the year devoted to online learning."[5]

The Fletcher School was founded in 1933 with the bequest of Austin Barclay Fletcher, who left over $3 million to Tufts University upon his death in 1923. A third of these funds were dedicated to a school of law and diplomacy. Fletcher did not have in mind a school "of the usual kind, which prepares men for admission to the bar and for the active practice of law." Instead, Fletcher envisioned "a school to prepare men for the diplomatic service and to teach such matters as come within the scope of foreign relations [which] embraces within it as a fundamental and thorough knowledge of the principles of international law upon which diplomacy is founded, although the profession of a diplomat carries with it also a knowledge of many things of a geographic and economic nature which affect relations between nations."[11]

The school opened in 1933 as a collaborative project between Harvard University and Tufts University. The Fletcher School is now administrated exclusively by Tufts University, but maintains close ties with Harvard. Fletcher students can register for graduate classes at MIT and Harvard, and conversely, Harvard and MIT cross register at Fletcher. In addition, the Fletcher School has strong relationships, including joint degree programs, with several other universities around the metro Boston area and throughout the world.

Dean James Stavridis at 2014 Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy convocation

The Fletcher School is under supervision of a dean, appointed by the president and the provost, with the approval of the Trustees of Tufts College (the university's governing board). The dean is responsible for the overall administration of the school, including faculty appointments, curriculum, admissions and financial aid, student affairs, development, and facilities. Unlike other graduate schools of international affairs, the Fletcher School has its own budget, faculty, and set of faculty bylaws. There are, however, some professors who hold joint appointments with departments in the School of Arts and Sciences. Furthermore, Fletcher professors occasionally offer courses in the College of Liberal Arts or allow undergraduates to enroll in graduate courses. The undergraduate international relations program, the largest major in the College of Liberal Arts, has its office at the Cabot Intercultural Center, the main building of the Fletcher School complex. However, the undergraduate department of international affairs has no affiliation with The Fletcher School.

The Center for International Environment and Resource Policy (CIERP) conducts scholarly and policy-relevant research on pressing environmental issues through the interdisciplinary lenses of science, policy, sociology, technology, business and the economy.

The Edward R. Murrow Center of Public Diplomacy was established in memory of the journalist and former head of the United States Information Agency . The center is home to Edward R. Murrow’s personal library and papers, including more than 2,000 documents, a number of awards, and certificates.

The Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies organizes public lectures, conferences and roundtables to create a greater understanding of the region and its challenges. The center hosts a high-profile annual lecture series that has twice hosted former U.S. President Bill Clinton as its speaker.[12]

The Hitachi Center for Technology and International Affairs focuses on the management of innovation and technological change and the advancement of economic and financial integration. The center sponsors a lecture series and conducts research and teaching on topics related to technology, economic integration and their role in international relations.

The Institute for Human Security promotes research and education at the intersection between humanitarianism, development, human rights and conflict resolution. The institute also runs the Program on Human Rights and Conflict Resolution, which supports an interdisciplinary approach to peace-building and coordinates the student-run journal PRAXIS.

The International Security Studies Program (ISSP) is a distinct field of study within the multidisciplinary curriculum of The Fletcher School. In addition to graduate-level courses and seminars, the ISSP sponsors “outside the classroom” educational activities, including simulation exercises, a lecture series, field trips and publications. The ISSP also co-hosts an annual conference with the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis [15]

The Maritime Studies Program views the ocean as an important sphere for international affairs, including as it relates to matters of international security, business, law and other disciplines. The program also runs annual voyages in connection with The Neptunes, a group of Fletcher students and alumni.

The Program in Southwest Asia and Islamic Civilization concentrates on the region's cultural and institutional history as well as its contemporary developments. The program offers a variety of courses and coordinates the student-run online journal al Nakhlah.

The World Peace Foundation, provides intellectual leadership on issues of peace, justice and security, and provides financial support only for projects that it has initiated itself. Among its thematic concerns are how mass atrocities end, Sudan and the Horn of Africa, memorialization and human rights, and reinventing peace for the 21st century.

Louis Aucoin, Institute for Human Security Research Professor, former Acting Minister of Justice for East Timor, advisor for the constitution-drafting processes of Cambodia, East Timor, Kosovo, and Rwanda. Current UN Special Representative for Liberia.[20]

Bhaskar Chakravorti, Senior Associate Dean of International Business and Finance and Executive Director of the Institute for Business in the Global Context and of the Center for Emerging Market Enterprises, former Partner of McKinsey & Company and faculty of Harvard Business School

^ abAnderson, Linda (June 11, 2001). "Programme with an international flavour: Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy: With students from 21 countries, GMAP aims to 'plug a gap that the MBA does not fill". Financial Times. p. 14.